Do these guys look like they need a gym or tofu to you?
My cowboy is 53 years old, and he eats like a teenager — which is to say he eats a lot, and much of it is red meat, full-fat cheese, eggs, butter and bread. He should be fat and sickly, if you believe common nutritional wisdom in the nation right now. But he’s not.
In fact, the cowboy is in phenomenally good shape. His only obvious health problems stem from “wearing out” his joints from doing stuff like roping calves and playing football. Like most ranching folks I know, the cowboy is strong, fit and has the stamina of a much younger man — all while never turning down ice cream.
What’s going on? Well, it might be counterintuitive to see the cowboy’s lifestyle as healthy, but it is in fact scientifically sound to make such a statement. It turns out that people who eat high-fat, high-calorie diets are not adversely impacted by this diet, if they are also intensely physically active.
According to research out of Indiana University, a person’s level of physical activity is much more important than what they eat. Researches divided 14 subjects into two groups. Both groups ate an “unhealthy” high-fat breakfast of 960 calories. One group exercised at high intensity for at least 30 minutes, the other was sedentary. Researches then measured stuff like the diameter of the brachial artery. After the fatty meal, the sedentary group had the greatest obstruction of blood flow while the active group had…no change at all. That’s right. None. Also, the sedentary folks saw their triglycerides increase 184 percent, whereas the active people had an increase of only 47 percent.
Betcha none of them boys is on Weight Watchers.
This, my friends, is why cowboys and cowgirls don’t get fat, in spite of their awesomely yummy, meaty, fatty diets. They do physically demanding work, all day long, like people evolved to do. They don’t sit behind a desk like I do, reading super scary articles on the New York Times website about how bad meat is for you. Don’t expect this information to be widely available to the general public, though — not with all the money there is to be made off of dieting. (The weight-loss industry generates about $68 billion in the US each year.)
Which leads me to why I hate the newest trendy fitness club chain, Monkey Bar Gym.Boo, hiss.
Not content to merely offer fitness equipment and classes like normal gyms, this new chain has decided to indoctrinate its members in the “dangers” of eating meat, saying it’s bad for people and the planet. If that were the case, the aforementioned study would not be true, and we would not have eyes in the fronts of our heads like all the other predators. We’d have eyes on the sides of our heads, like all the other herbivorous prey animals. We also wouldn’t have canines. Science aside, Monkey Bar Gym wants us all eating seeds and nuts before driving to their gym to do things called “hanging leg raises”.
Think I’d rather stick to steak and horseback riding.
Pass the butter.
Tagged: cowboys, diet, Fitness, monkey bar gym, ranchlife
Thanks for pointing out and saying what I’ve been saying for years. My cowboy worked hard. He never ate a salad until he was in his 50s and would have been happy with just meat and potatoes, corn and apple pie every meal for most of his life, and a little sauerkraut pork and dumplings and ice cream. He was strong and healthy until he got bit by that darn dear tick when he was in his 70s. Even growing up in the city, we climbed trees and fences, played tag and roller skated up and down the sidewalk until it was dark most nights. We didn’t have t.v., or i-pods, or game boys, etc., etc., to amuse us until bedtime. I guess I’m sounding like an ‘old codger’ but we worked and played and we had fun. And we ate lots of meat!
Exactly… I like to call it the dirt theory. The more time you spend in the dirt the healthier you are- as adults and as kids. Those in rural communities tend to eat more like their grandparents and great-grandparents. We don’t have access or as much access to fast food, it is a treat. We tend to be more self-sustaining because it isn’t easy to go to the grocery store, daily or in some cases even weekly.
Plus, if you don’t embrace the physical activity, you go broke. There is always fence to fix, cattle to feed, corrals to build, or rocks to pick. There is little down time especially in the summer months.
When I was growing up and my kids, too, it was said we had to eat a bushel of dirt before we died. We played in dirt, worked in dirt, made castles out of it. And I just had my 80th birthday! How in the heck did I survive all those treks through the barnyard?!! (Sometimes barefoot!)
I love this post. I was an athlete for many years before I got involved in agriculture–I am not sure when I worked the hardest–as a competitive athlete or raising cattle! I am as strong now (as a 37 year old) as I was back then because of the physical labor involved on our farm. I still eat like a teenager and I feel great because I am so active. I weigh in at 110# and eat just like your cowboy
Anne
being unemployed , busted up and beer make cowboys fat.
We have lost all common sense in this society. Thanks for a good dose of it this morning. Now, I’m going to go eat some bacon for breakfast!
Me, too!
Study after study have shown a very strong link between animal protein and diseases such as cancers, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases and osteoporosis among many examples. There is nothing that you can get in animal based products that you can’t get better in plant based products with the exception of Vitamin B12. If you look at Dr. Joel Furhman’s nutrition density scale which shows how many nutrients you should expect to get per calorie, plant based foods are at the top and animal based foods fall way down the list. Animal based products contain no fiber, lower levels of vitamins and minerals and plenty of cholesterol.
What Monkey Bar Gym is doing is promoting a socially conscious, health promoting environment for its members. Members are encouraged to do a little better than last time and the environment is very encouraging. Monkey Bar Gym focuses on a whole body experience of eating strong, whole foods, plant based diets, full body movement training and proper restoration. Monkey Bar Gym is not an indoctrination. Members are provided the information and consistently, those who embrace the Monkey Bar Gym philosophy outperform those who do not in the gym and in their doctor’s physicals.
I’m almost 35 years old and 11 percent body fat, while able to perform at a high level. I’ve never felt better, trained better, been less injured or sick than when I’ve been on a plant based diet. I get all my body’s nutrients in the way that nature intended me to get them which enables me to train hard, recover faster than an animal based diet and see results faster. My body doesn’t need meat to perform at it’s best.
I’ve read your stories and some of you may be the exceptions to the rule. However, the science agrees that the best way to avoid and reverse the chronic diseases I referenced above is to embrace a whole foods, plant based diet.
I just don’t think any one can figure how things are out here with out spending a few weeks doing a job horse back a job or fixing fence and tending to livestock. There isn’t even any point in trying to argue. I have worked on both coast riding in up scale barns and no one who hasn’t lived on the land held a herd could ever figure out how things are.
Actually many have those studies have been refuted as WRONG! There was just an article in the clinical nutrition which stated- animal proteins and fats are no less healthy for you than their plant-based counterparts when both are eaten in moderation. Another study funded by the American Heart Association has again refuted the claim that meat-based diets cause anymore heart disease.
Unfortuantely, the media outlets have not picked up on these stories and promoted them as much as they have those others. It is dissappointing that people do not do their research from scientific based studies not popular press and understand.
In fact, there is some science coming out stating that soy-based protiens have a tendency to cause breast cancer (more estrogen) and may be part of the reason we are seeing incidences of early puberty.
I spent last weekend covering the Atlantic National Angus Show. Cowboys here from Canada to Texas, Maryland to California, Maine to Georgia, and everywhere in between. Just for the heck of it I looked for limps and other signs of ‘cow’ injuries. I was astounded at the number. Never really thought of it (even tho’ I hurt most of the time from one of my own) until I read your blog and the comment about cowboys and their injuries. You are so right!
Always knew we are a little crazy for what we do. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
P.S. Saw a lot of old geezers that have been around the cattle at least as long as I have. Saw very little obesity or even overweight folks, and everyone was having a great time!
When I was eleven our parents put me and my brothers up for adoption. One of the families me and my twin brother went to was in Mathis, Texas. We were trained to ride, help with the cows, pick cotton (hurts your hands), and experience life and God in a natural way. Great memories.